Mill workers' heroic defeat a labour landmark
BY the mid-19th century Belfast had become known as ‘Linenopolis’ – the centre of Ireland’s linen industry. Between 1873 and 1914, it was the biggest linen manufacturer in the world, which in turn drove its enormous population growth from 100,000 in 1850 to 385,000 by 1911. These facts appear as a remarkable story of economic and industrial success but the human cost was social decay and dehumanisation of generations of mill workers whose life’s blood and state of servitude were harnessed and exploited to make it all happen.
Source: belfastmedia.com